The Netherlands Council for Refugees is concerned about the rapidly increasing backlog at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND). Some 6000 asylum seekers are now waiting longer than the legal term of six months for a decision on their residence. That is six times more than in January. The Council for Refugees warns of an even bigger asylum crisis and calls on State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum) to intervene.
According to the Council for Refugees, about 26,000 asylum applications are now waiting for an assessment by the IND. “We see that more and more asylum seekers are struggling with mental problems due to a totally hopeless situation. They have the feeling that they have to live in a dark tunnel without perspective. Questions by telephone or email are not answered or are answered very late by the IND,” says a spokesperson. of the Dutch Council for Refugees about the situation.
In 2020, the backlogs at the IND had become so high that a special task force was set up to clear the backlogs. It was abolished at the end of last year. “It is very worrying that the backlog is increasing again in the middle of a reception crisis. This threatens to become a crisis on top of a crisis,” said the Council for Refugees.
The organization also points to the situation at the reception center in Ter Apel, where lately people regularly have to sleep on chairs because there is no more space.
The aid organization calls on the State Secretary to come up with an emergency plan to eliminate the backlog “before the situation gets out of hand again. The IND has been struggling for some time with a shortage of (experienced) staff to handle asylum applications on time. This is partly due to a lack of structural financing, which means that employees have to say goodbye too quickly.”
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